


Picture Day

by SkeleGiraffe (vi_mexa)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, i apologise for the sappiness, implied Ana/Reinhardt, this is so fluffy compared to my norm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 12:03:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8577829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vi_mexa/pseuds/SkeleGiraffe
Summary: As the newly-elected leaders of Overwatch, Jack and Gabriel need some official portraits for the press.





	

Jack was impatiently tapping his foot on the linoleum floor. _Where the hell was this person??_ He and Gabe had an appointment for 2:30 and it was nearing 3 o’clock. Gabe didn’t seem too irritated, but he seemed….spacey, almost nervous.

Around them were many different light fixtures, a few tripods, and some discarded props and backdrops- one of a forest, a few plain marbled colors, and the one the drove jack crazy….a circus backdrop. _Who would want their picture taken to look as if they’ve been placed in some surreal land of bright colors?_ Good thing that’s not why they were there. No, the administration wanted “official” portraits of Jack and Gabe so they could plaster them all over the media, “Overwatch’s finest”.

At first Jack rejected the idea- why wouldn’t a picture on-base work just as well as a “professional” one? But after he had seen the pictures that Gabe had taken of him with one of the cameras they had laying about, he changed his mind. He didn’t need a picture of him with his eyes half open, one eye red from the flash, and his hair indistinguishable from his skin to be put anywhere where the public could see it.

“Jack….” Gabriel raised his voice a little louder, “JACK!”

Startled, Jack turned toward his partner with a look of surprise and concern. “What? What is it,” he asked hurriedly.

“Ay, calm down. I just wanted you to stop moving your foot….it’s been driving me crazy for the past fifteen minutes,” Gabe stated rather matter-of-factly while looking uninterestedly at his nails.

Jack tilted his head toward his legs and realized his nervous tick was still going. Sheepishly he smiled and apologized, “Sorry Gabe….I just really want to get this over with.”

“What’s got you so wound up Jackie?”

“Well I….” Jack was about to say what was on his mind before he remembered that Gabe wasn’t looking so well either, “What’s got you wound up? You were looking like you were ready to run out of here at any moment.” _Ah, how the turn tables._

Gabriel stiffened at Jack’s remark but tried to relax back down and brush it off, “The noise was getting on my nerves, that’s all.” A surprisingly lacking retort from a normally sarcastic person.

“Okaaaay.…” Jack drawled out, hoping his skepticism came across, “But you seemed nervous _before_ I started that, way back when we first got here.”

“You just don’t know when to let things go, do you,” Gabriel sighed. He let his head drop back to stare at the ceiling for a moment before turning to Jack with an expression even more serious than normal, “I will tell you, Jackie— but only if you tell me what’s on your mind. Deal?”

Jack thought about it for a moment, wondering what could be so bad that it warranted ‘the face’. “Alright Gabe, that’s fair.”

A long pause and an expectant look from Gabriel.

“Uhhh, aren’t you going to tell me what’s up,” Jack questioned.

Gabriel’s eyebrows quirked upward and a look of amusement crossed his features, “Oh, I will but only _after_ you tell me your story.”

He should have expected that, honestly. Never has he done that: not during training, not when they were elected for Overwatch, not even in their dating life (with the exception of one occasion where he had caught Gabe crying) has Gabe let any information go without first getting some form of equal disclosure. 

“Back home,” Jack started, a far-off look in his eyes, “Pictures were a big deal. You didn’t see the extended family too often so cards with individuals and then the family portrait were fussed over to an embarrassing extent. And I guess the feeling is kind of there still, like this has to be perfect.”

Gabe stared intently at his boyfriend and nodded slowly as he listened before gently turning up one corner of his mouth in a half smile.

“Jackie, come here,” he cooed as he brought the blonde man in for a hug, “You are quite possibly the most photogenic person I’ve ever known. In all of the stupid SEP prank photos we took of each other you always managed to either be looking at the camera with a bright-ass smile or you were looking like you just stepped out of a modeling shoot.” Gabe gave him a small, reassuring squeeze and a peck on his cheek, “Besides, you’re beautiful no matter what the camera says.”

Jack thought back to the pictures they took before and laughed. If even those are considered good photos of him then perhaps he was being too hard on himself.

“Alright, alright so what’s you deal, huh,” Jack prodded.

Gabriel’s face dropped back down and gravely stated, “I can’t smile.”

Jack was pretty sure that was the dumbest statement he’d ever heard. “Gabe, you smile fine! You laugh and smile with Ana and me all the time!”

“No, no,” Gabe shook his head, “You don’t understand….it’s pictures I have a problem with. As soon as I know the camera’s there I- I tense up.”

“Yeah, well I don’t believe that one bit. It’s just like you told me, ‘you’re beautiful no matter what the camera says’,” Jack said, getting amusement from his second mirroring of Gabe’s words in a fifteen minute period.

“Jack, I really don’t think—” Gabe started to object but finally the photographer scrambled into the room, arms full of camera lenses and paperwork.

 

* * *

 

 

It didn’t take long for them to get a simple solid colored backdrop with adequate lighting set up for the pictures. Jack - though he was still quite miffed by the photographer’s lack of punctuality - was polite and went first, easily getting three good shots done in only about five minutes. Gabe walked up to take Jack’s place in front of the screen and as he passed Jack put a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re gonna do fine.”

Gabriel let out a short, nervous laugh before clearing his throat and squaring his shoulders, prepared to look as friendly and professional as possible.

“Alright, smile,” the photographer prompted.

Jack wasn’t prepared for what he saw and nearly burst out laughing. Gabe’s face had contorted into a pained and almost threatening look, eyebrows knitted together and lips pulled back as far as they could be, baring his teeth.

The photographer was not as composed as Jack and pulled away from his camera to quizzically stare at the man before him, hoping it was just a joke.

Before anything could be said, Jack blurted, “H-hey Gabe, remember that time we were making our way back to HQ and we caught Ana and Rein in the back of the cargo plane?”

For a split second, Gabe was confused but quickly grinned as wide as he could and let out a roar of laughter, remembering the shocked looks on his friends’ faces.

Jack nudged the photographer and quickly muttered, “Take the picture, _take the picture_!”

The photographer turned back to his camera and began snapping picture after picture, hoping that in one of them Gabriel had a slightly composed look.

 

* * *

 

 

After Gabe’s guffawing had died down they all took to looking through the shots, picking out the best ones for the media. Unfortunately they had no such luck with Gabe’s portraits. In most of them his eyes were completely shut and in the ones that weren’t, his mouth was open and in a few there were even tears streaming down his face.

Gabriel pored over the stop-motion capture of his laughing fit, trying to find the least-offensive one, shaking his head every once in awhile. He eventually settled on one from early on— before he had _really_ started laughing.

“See, Jackie? This is why I don’t like pictures.”

Jack wrapped his arm around Gabe’s shoulders and gave him a small hug, “Don’t worry. I think I’ve got a plan, Gabe.” He smiled his trademark ‘nothing-can-possibly-go-wrong’ smile and added, “I still think you’re beautiful….even though you can’t smile.”

 

* * *

 

 

_A week later a newsletter goes out with the portraits of the new commanders; one looks like he’s witnessing the funniest thing on the face of the planet, the other has his eyes half-open - one eye red from the flash - and his hair indistinguishable from his skin._

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this waaaay back in August before we were gifted with a smiling Reyes but better late than never I guess. I watched an episode of Friends where Chandler was unable to smile for a picture and I thought it would be perfect for Gabe.


End file.
